In the almost four years since the Saudi-led coalition’s air campaign against Houthi rebels in Yemen began, tens of thousands of civilians have been killed, and millions pushed to the brink of starvation. The Houthis overthrew the internationally recognised president of Yemen, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, and seized control of parts of the country in 2014.
In December, the United Nations is planning to reconvene peace talks in Sweden between the Saudi-backed government led by Hadi and the Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
Given the Houthis didn’t attend the Geneva peace talks in September, will they attend the talks this time in Sweden? And what quota of responsibility do they have for the crisis in Yemen?
“We didn’t say that we are clean 100 percent, things happen during the war,” says Hisham Sharaf, the Houthi-backed foreign minister in Sanaa, in response to accusations from various human rights groups that Houthis have blocked foreign aid, tortured detainees, used child soldiers and shelled civilian areas.
“If we get 10 percent of that, the Saudis and their coalition is responsible for 90 percent of the killing in Yemen,” Sharaf says.
Editor’s note: This episode was recorded prior to a report that alleges the UAE and Saudi Arabia threatened not to attend upcoming talks if a UN ceasefire resolution, drafted by the UK, was passed.
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Source: Al Jazeera
